This invention relates to a process for producing fermented milk products.
In the field of fermented milk products, there has not as yet been given any satisfactory solution to the problem of the rancid odor due to fermentation.
Although the cause for the generation of the fermentative rancid odor has not yet been fully understood, it seems unquestionable that the nature of such rancid odor is a strong odor of volatile lower fatty acids, such as butyric acid, generated by lactic acid bacteria during the fermentation step. However, in any case, since the rancid odor remarkably deteriorates the flavor of the fermented milk products and exhibits an uncomfortable taste, its prevention has been a long-pending problem in this field.
Under such circumstances, I have been continuously studying in pursuit of a means to eliminate the fermentative rancid odor in fermented milk products and enhance the mild flavor inherent in the fermented milk products. As a result, I have discovered that when adding a yeast decomposed product or a mixture of a yeast decomposed product and an albumen decomposed product in an appropriate stage during the production step of a fermented milk product, the rancid odor is surprisingly eliminated and the mild flavor inherent in the fermented milk product is enhanced, and thus have accomplished this invention.